Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Drinking from the Sun / Walking Under Stars Restrung by Hilltop Hoods:
This is a two album collection of Australian hip-hop resampled with orchestral arrangements. There's a wide variety and some are more successful than others. A few don't add anything new, while others introduce unnecessary harmonic changes like a high school composer who doesn't truly understand chord progressions. The good ones, though, give the songs a different perspective and soften the accompaniment enough to let the great lyrics surface a bit better.

Final Grade: B

Love, Season One:
Judd Apatow's latest production is a comedy-drama of broken or horrible people who might end up in a relationship. We only got through about 4 episodes before giving up on it. The plot doesn't move quickly enough to retain interest, and the Apatow formula of witty young people swearing is very tired now. It might have been edgy in 1997 when I was 17, but I've lived through my 20s now and I'm sure that none of my friends, even Kelley, ever swore as much as these people do. Free on Netflix.

Final Grade: Not Graded

Mr. Robot, Season One:
This show featuring an unreliable narrator and hackers started out with great promise, but very quickly turned into a different kind of show with a muddy midsection, not unlike most french horn accompaniments in choral music. It's expertly shot for cinephiles, but goes off the rails with extended dream sequences and erratically driven characters. Don't believe the hype that's it's the next great show -- if you don't like it by episode 4, you won't like it much at all.

Final Grade: C-

Sadnecessary by Milky Chance:
This is an album of German pop songs, some of which are in radio rotation right now. The songs as a collective are pleasant, catchy, and good for background music, but the singers' voices might irritate your auricles almost immediately.

Final Grade: B-